The genetic analysis applied to the historical study of kinship: the case of Early Medieval necropolises

Abstract

If, on the one hand, kinship is a practically universal human experience, it has been found that the funerary context associated with the idea of “Family” depends directly on both the place and the time of a given society. Recently, genetic analysis began to be used in the archaeological field, mainly to identify kinship relationships within a necropolis. As for early-medieval funerary contexts, the archaeological and genetic study of different necropolises in central and northeastern Spain seem to indicate that the concept of “kinship” could not be decisive in terms of where and with whom an individual would be buried. In some cases, it could inform about the existence of a biological bond between individuals buried in the same grave, as well as, regarding other individuals from the same necropolis. Indeed, burial rituals seem to be informative regarding the identity of both the deceased and the one who buries, having been found burials specific to certain “Houses”, “Families”, or a certain society. Thus, genetics proves to be an indispensable tool in the interpretation of funerary contexts, since it allows discarding biological kinship between individuals buried together, even if there is some type of written evidence that indicates that they were “family”.